RedRider

While I have never really dropped mine, I found it will bend back with a rubber mallet. RR

We have both a Shih Tzu (Murphy) and a St. Bernard (Gilbert) and they are great together - both neutered males. Murphy is the brains of the outfit, Gilbert the brawn. JJ

My mother is showing up this year with the fixin's for Persimmon pudding. An old family recipe that is a treat for all to behold. JJ

Yup, this is a nasty one. My boss got this one and had to call the computer gurus to fix it. Took them 2 or 3 hours (although, they do get paid by the hour). RR

This is the best m'cycle jacket I have ever worn. Picked one up early last year. Comfortable, warm with liner, cool without. Plenty of storage pockets, waterproof, and has accommodations for a water reservoir (like a camelback insert). You can't go wrong with this jacket. Also, the liner is removable and can be worn as a light jacket by itself. RR

What problem are you having with the Warm n Safe? I got the low power (65W) jacket liner and the gloves and find they provide plenty of heat even when not turned up. One thing I noticed was it worked best when put on over just a T-shirt and nothing more. My volt meter shows OK charging unless I am sitting still for a while. RR

Check for vacuum leaks around all the little hoses. While idling, take some carb cleaner and spray around the hoses. You should hear a change in idle if there is a vacuum leak. And another easy test, check to see your petcock is not clogged. Take off the fuel exit (after turning off the petcock), attach a short hose to the fuel exit and run it to a jar. Turn on the fuel petcock and make sure fuel runs freely. Unlikely this is the problem, but it is easy to check. If the petcock has a severe restriction, this would cause your described problem. And another thought - fuel pump pressure. I don't expect this to be the problem since low fuel pump pressure would still fill the bowls on the carbs and allow you to run for a while, not to die immediately upon twisting the throttle. Good luck and make sure to let us know what you find. RR

I might suggest waiting for the Motorcycle Show to sample and review several selections. There are scheduled stops in Novi, MI, Cleveland, OH, and NY, NY. Suspect Novi or Cleveland would be easiest to get to. Linky: http://www.motorcycleshows.com/ RR

Been there, done that, got the racing stripes in the shorts. Not fun. Glad you are OK. RR

When do you need it and for how long? I have a trailer in Fond du Lac, WI you could borrow. It is not enclosed, but would haul the bike fine. Has a front tire chock, tie downs, and a ramp. Am about 3 hours north of you, but could drag it down to my Bro's house in Geneva sometime soon. Since it is Fall/Winter, I will likely not need it for a while - unless I get a Tirdy Point Buck and need to haul it to the bar to show it off. RR

You can also check on www.advrider.com. There are folks on there who have ridden, and shipped bikes, all around the world. Check the regional forums, etc. Sounds like a great time. RR

If I recall, you can't purchase alcohol in Indiana on election day until the polls close either. I believe it harkens back to the days when a candidate would ply voters with liquor to get them to vote. Now they ply them with public funds (your and my tax dollars) and it is perfectly legal. RR

Voted this morning and had about a 45 minute wait. Now I need to head to Milwaukee and vote again. RR

Oh, wait. You are in Canada. Don't know if the policies are the same north of the border. RR

No. Just go into the dealer and have them accept the transfer. The warranty is 5 years, unlimited mileage, transferrable. If they give you trouble, find another dealer. They should welcome your business. Mine did. Good luck. RR

There can be several causes. 1) Leak in exhaust system. 2) Poorly sync'd carbs. 3) Rich mixture in carbs. The first is easiest to check. Take off exhaust trim and check for leaks while the bike is running. For #2 and #3, you need special tools/equipment. Throw out a posting to see if anyone in your area has a CarbTune and/or a ColorTune. Or, just wait until spring and visit Ohio for Don's (Freebird) Maintenance day. Good luck. RR

I wasn't trying to save any money on the tires by continuing to run them. When I inspected them before leaving on the trip, they were in great shape and only had about 3000 highway miles on them. I put the bike up on lift to change the oil and inspected the tires all the way around while it was up there. If they were worn, I would have changed them. The difference is that I should have checked them before beginning the return trip. I didn't even check tire pressure since they were still at full pressure when I did the pretrip inspection. That was a mistake that was very costly - and could have been worse. Never again will I overlook checking the tire pressure before leaving on a day's ride. It may have been that I picked up something while riding down to NC that provided a slow leak and the pressure may have been low. Don't know. The tire was so trashed after the blow out there was no way to tell. Live and learn. It was an expensive lesson. RR

Unbelieveable - I sure wouldn't want to have to clean that cockpit afterwards. RR

And for plane fare and beer, he will likely come over and fix yours - if you ask nicely. However, you will have to chill the beer in something other than a Lucas refrigerator. RR

I ride with heated jacket liner and heated gloves. Also have GPS w/ MP3 going at full blast along with driving lights (35W ea.). At highway speeds, if I have all turned on, I'm OK. If I have to slow down in traffic, I will switch off something - usually the driving lights. Keep track with a small LED voltmeter mounted on the tripletree. If my wife wanted to run heated clothing also, she would have to be on her own bike. The Venture couldn't handle it. This is one of the few weak points of this bike. RR

Had spent the beginning of the week running around the Smoky's, then headed to Chapel Hill for a couple of days of meetings. Was returning Friday and decided to run up Hwy 52 in West, by God, Virginia. Great weather, great roads, all was doing fine until I got into a turn at about 45 MPH and the rear tire blew. I inspected the tire (with about 3000 miles on it) before I left the Saturday before. Up to that point, I had added about 1500 miles. Unfortunately, I failed to inspect the tire before leaving Chapel Hill for the ride home. I was pulling a trailer (had to take my golf clubs and "Goin' to Meeting clothes"). Should have just shipped them, but I did not have a hard case for the clubs. Anyhoo, I wrestled the bike to a safe stop on the oncoming shoulder and breathed a sigh of relief - actually several sighs of relief. That was a really scary incident. Upon inspecting the tire, it was wore thru and totally trashed. This was the tire I had installed in Erie, PA in July during my ride back from Maine so I know the exact milage of it. Dunlop D404. Knocked on a local door and a young lady, about 8 months pregnant opens the door and offered any help she could provide. Let me use her phone since there was no cell coverage down in the holler I was stuck in. The neighbors across the street were also very helpful calling around to find someone who had a trailer or something to get the bike off the side of the road. The local coal trucks are apparently not very concerned with radom debris on the side of the road. We also called several local (within 30 minutes or so) dealers to see if anyone had a tire. In my state of flustration (yes, I know that isn't a real word), I was asking for the front tire size. Didn't notice until later that evening. A couple of dealers in Logan has the requested tire but were closing at 5:00 for Halloween - apparently this is a big deal around these parts - instead of the standard closing time of 7:00. Traded a couple of messages with Skid, but he is in another part of the state. I got hooked up with Larry who owns a local bike customizing shop and was just about 1/4 mi. down the road. He came down with a trailer and we moved the bike and trailer to his shop. He then proceeded to call everybody he knew who could tow, haul, or carry my bike to Logan. After a couple of hours on the phone, we hooked up with a guy with a flat bed car hauler that would take me to Logan. We loaded it up, strapped it down, and went for a ride thru the mountains. OK so far. Got checked into a Super8 and the bike/trailer placed in the parking lot. The dealer said to call about 8:00 and they would get someone over to pick the bike up and install the tire. While stewing in the hotel, I got online and started doing some checking on tires. At that point, I realized I was asking for the front tire, not the rear! At 8:00, called the dealer and advised them of my oversight, they did NOT have the correct tire - neither did the other dealer in town! I was completely screwed. On top of that, the tenents in the room next door must have been honeymooning acrobats - I only got about 3 hours of sleep with the thin walls. Got on the internet and the phone and found a tire at a dealer just across the line in KY - about 10 miles from where I was originally. I had called them, but they did not have the front tire in stock (which was what I asked for). Had I told them the correct tire size, they could have had me on my way Friday evening -argh! Called around trying to find a rental car to run to the other dealer to get the tire. Figured this would be a little less expensive than hauling the bike to them - little did I know. No car was available. So, I was getting desperate and called the tow guy again. His boss was running errands and volunteered (OK, since I paid them, it's not officially volunteering) to go get the tire and bring it to me. I sweet talked the Logan dealer to install a tire that was not purchased from their shop, which they were reluctant to do. They showed up with a trailer about 10 minutes after the tire arrived and we all went to the shop. An hour or so later, I was on the road. All told, my failure to inspect the tire before leaving Chapel Hill cost me: Towing: $150 Hotel: $65 Tire: $154.00 Tire delivery:$50 Installation:$185 (highway robbery, but they had me my the short hairs and they know it - this is also why I am not advertising their name - it wasn't a Yama shop). T-Shirt from LT Customs: $20 (he wouldn't take anything for his troubles, so I paid a little extra over the asking price for one of their T-Shirts) Lost day of riding in perfect weather: priceless Got on the road at 1:00 Saturday afternoon and Iron Butted it home. 732 miles and got in about 4:00 am (actually 3:00 am with the daylight savings time change). Had to stop and take a couple of power naps on the way. Could have been much worse. I am just grateful there was no traffic coming the other way when the tire blew. The bike was all over the road before coming to a stop. However, it stayed vertical. OK, that's a long winded story about my final ride for this season. Time to wash the bike, put the battery on a tender, and break out the guns. It's hunting season. Please check out the website for LT Customs. If you have something you want done, they appear to do good work and are really good folk. www.ltcustoms.com. I believe the premature death of the tire was caused by many miles with a heavy load. I put about 3500 of the 4500 miles on this tire pulling a loaded trailer, and about 1200 of the 3500 towing miles with the addition of my 150 lb son going to and from PIP. After this tire wears out, I am going back to Avons. Hopefully, I will have the opportunity to change out the next time voluntarily rather than under duress. Sure will be cheaper and not as scary. RR

Change it when it shows it needs changed. The results of not changing it can be difficult (you can see what I mean when you read my soon to be posted story). I got about 10K out of my original Brickstones. 16K out of my Avons (wore to the core at 16K - I should have checked them before). Recently only got about 4.5K out of a Dunlop D404. It depends on how you ride, what your load is, and what - if anything - you are towing. Overall, tires are relatively cheap if you are in control of when they get changed. If you have to get one changed in an emergency, they are VERY expensive. Suggest www.swmototires.com for Avon Venoms. RR

The SCMA - Southern California Motorcycle Assoc. sponsors a 4 corner tour similar to the Iron Butt Association. There are specific locations at each corner to get pictures and a time limit of 3 weeks. The route is wholly up to you. Check out http://www.usa4corners.org/. We plan on doing it in 2010. RR

I didn't get any pics while riding down there since I was by myself. However, there is no better area to ride east of the Mississippi (that I have found - and I have looked). West of the Mississippi, we shall see when I start exploring next year. RR

Electric is the way to go. Gerbings or Warm and Safe (warmnsafe.com). Use the gloves and a jacket liner with a dual control. Rode 300+ miles Tuesday in 35-45F weather and was fine. Even got snowed on but my hands and body were warm. RR